Friday, April 3, 2009

The Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Bil Jackson perform the world premiere of Kevin Puts' Clarinet Concerto April 10th at the Boettcher Concert Hall in Denver. Two Mountain Scenes and Brahms' Symphony No. 2 round out this unique, world premiere program.

"The first movement was inspired by a devastating film I saw on HBO, a documentary called Section 60. The second contrasts the reflective, often meditative quality of the first movement in its headlong aggressiveness. I guess you could call it a 'sinister toccata,' maybe in somewhat the tradition of Prokofiev. The music is very virtuosic. Bil said he wanted a challenge and I am giving him one!" - Kevin Puts

In an Soundings interview Kevin Puts describes how the concerto came about, "Bil performed my trio And Legions Will Rise at Music from Angel Fire, a summer festival, and really liked it. He got the idea of commissioning a concerto, and Jeffrey Kahane already knew my music from having conducted my Marimba Concerto and also my Symphony No. 3 (Vespertine). We found a solo source of funding, the wonderful and generous Kathryn Gould, who founded the Magnum Opus project in the San Francisco Bay Area."

Bil Jackson is the principal clarinetist of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and has become well known for his performances of the Copland Clarinet Concerto as well as the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, K.V. 622. He also premiered Dan Welcher’s Clarinet Concerto with the Honolulu Symphony in 1989.